Ruby Bridges

in the midst of a crowd marches a little soldier though she does not know it yet you stand there unable to express the Fiore pent up inside you anyway there's no need he's screaming people swarming around you portray it well enough with the death threats her small figure is surrounded by four large white men she is barely visible from where you stand but nevertheless conspicuous because all the rage of the crowd is hurtling towards her Ruby Bridges was born in Tylertown Mississippi in 1954 the same year that Brown versus the Board of Education was decided when she was four years old she and her family moved to New Orleans Louisiana father decided that she wanted Ruby to have a good education and then going to a white school was the only way to get it the test that Ruby talked to gain admittance to the white school was designed to resist federal desegregation by making it so difficult that no black child would be able to pass Ruby was one of only six black children in New Orleans to be deemed intelligent enough to go to white school and so became one of the first black children to desegregate in the south ruby was the only black child to attend William Frantz elementary school on her first day of kindergarten she entered the school and watched as white families withdrew all their children from the school a large mob pleaded her with threats as severe as poison every day even though she was escorted by u.s. marshals there was only one teacher at the school Barbara Henry who was willing to teach Ruby the young girl was in a classroom by herself and suffered from the loneliness of being separated from the other children even when some of them came back to school even when Mrs Henry was finally able to have Ruby in a class with other students for some of the day it was not the same in the minute he said that it sort of made sense it was extremely I think the worst part about it being six not having any friends whatever playing I did it I did what Mrs Henry in my classroom Ruby's courage showed the world how entrenched racism was her parents lost their jobs and she received death threats at only the age of six even her sharecropper grandparents in Mississippi were turned off the land because of what she was doing everyone knew about it and therefore she and her family suffered despite all the blatant racism she encountered she kept going to school in fact she never missed a day she gave people courage and her perseverance paid off the next year her school is completely desegregated along with many schools around the country although her bravery was forgotten for a time she showed the strength and resilience of children and their power to change what always had been and what looked like it always would be Ruby Bridges Hall she is not married did not stop working for equality and good education as an adult she was able to revisit her past by going to her old school to volunteer her nieces weren't there and she was caring for them because her brother had been killed in drumlin related violence created the Ruby Bridges foundation to combat the old problem that she had been fighting as a child which still survived racism it also addresses parents non involvement in their children's education now she and her old teacher Mrs Henry traveled the country telling her story and standing up against racism she and her story have become a symbol for doing what is right even when it is tremendously difficult and for fighting against the great inequalities that come out of racism Ruby Bridges exposed how far-reaching racism was when she was persecuted for taking advantage of the right every American has to good schooling Ruby made her voice heard even though she was a part of many groups that are severely underrepresented for the enormous roles that they have played in shaping America african-americans women and children to name a few the people who are well known are often wealthy white men but they are not representative of all American history or of the American people in the end what is important is that Ruby Bridges is an American the famous become famous because they changed the lives of everyday Americans in some way but they old are celebrity or notoriety to ordinary Americans who made it possible their impact will be no without seemingly ordinary Americans we bridges has had a great impact on American history not because she is famous politically powerful athletic or sounding Li beautiful but because she was an ordinary American who did what an ordinary American does in an extraordinary way go to school to get a good education and do it faithfully by being an ordinary American she participated in the patchwork of ordinary American lives that truly makes up the history of the United States Lee bridges brought the u.s. closer to justice through her extraordinary ordinary life the essence of the American Dream and the American experiment of equality for all

Channel: NHS APUSH

Views: 91,051

Keywords: Ruby Bridges, Civil Rights, APUSH, Desegregation, Brown v. Board, Ruby Bridges Foundation, Barbara Henry, Obama, Ordinary Americans, Impactful Americans, Story

Id: Xx1zdngX0DQ

Length: 5min 42sec (342 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 06 2016